American Big Game in Its Haunts eBook

Mr. Roosevelt was the first president of the Boone
and Crockett Club, and continues actively interested
in its work. He was succeeded in the presidency
of the Club by the late Gen. B.H. Bristow.

[Illustration: Tourists and Bears]

Wilderness Reserves

The practical common sense of the American people
has been in no way made more evident during the last
few years than by the creation and use of a series
of large land reserves—­situated for the
most part on the great plains and among the mountains
of the West—­intended to keep the forests
from destruction, and therefore to conserve the water
supply. These reserves are created purely for
economic purposes. The semi-arid regions can
only support a reasonable population under conditions
of the strictest economy and wisdom in the use of the
water supply, and in addition to their other economic
uses the forests are indispensably necessary for the
preservation of the water supply and for rendering
possible its useful distribution throughout the proper
seasons. In addition, however, to the economic
use of the wilderness by preserving it for such purposes
where it is unsuited for agricultural uses, it is
wise here and there to keep selected portions of it—­of
course only those portions unfit for settlement—­in
a state of nature, not merely for the sake of preserving
the forests and the water, but for the sake of preserving
all its beauties and wonders unspoiled by greedy and
shortsighted vandalism. These beauties and wonders
include animate as well as inanimate objects.
The wild creatures of the wilderness add to it by
their presence a charm which it can acquire in no other
way. On every ground it is well for our nation
to preserve, not only for the sake of this generation,
but above all for the sake of those who come after
us, representatives of the stately and beautiful haunters
of the wilds which were once found throughout our
great forests, over the vast lonely plains, and on
the high mountain ranges, but which are now on the
point of vanishing save where they are protected in
natural breeding grounds and nurseries. The work
of preservation must be carried on in such a way as
to make it evident that we are working in the interest
of the people as a whole, not in the interest of any
particular class; and that the people benefited beyond
all others are those who dwell nearest to the regions
in which the reserves are placed. The movement
for the preservation by the nation of sections of
the wilderness as national playgrounds is essentially
a democratic movement in the interest of all our people.